Nithing Poles & Curious Traditions

Germanic pagans had some curious traditions. To curse an enemy, they’d put up what’s called a nithing pole. In Old Norse the word is níðstang, which is Anglicized as nithstang or nidstang, because the letters í or ð don’t exist in the modern English alphabet.

A nithing pole consisted of a long, wooden pole with a recently cut horse head at the end, and at times with the skin of the horse laid over the pole.The nithing pole was directed towards the enemy and target of the curse. The curse could be carved in runes on the pole.

Shepard Fairey,the designer of this poster,is an amazingly talented artist. He's often political, a leftist with whom I often disagree.But I love his work.

I love Lando & I love Shaft.

This poster of Terry Porter, Buck Williams & Jerome Kersey used to hang on my wall. I need to find another one. I was a huge fan of the Portland Trailblazers during the Clyde Drexler and Arvydas Sabonis eras.

I took one of these once and put it up in my apartment. It's a great poster. I need to get another one. I wonder if any are on eBay. (Yes, yes, I know stealing is wrong. It was a big color copy of the original, from a laser printer, probably from Kinko's, hanging outside a convenience store.)